Montreal police arrest suspect in 2020 synagogue vandalism case

Synagogue in Cote-Saint-Luc vandalized B'Nai Brith is calling the ransacking of a Montreal-area synagogue ‘one of the worst such incidents to take place in Canada in years.’

Montreal — Police arrested a suspect after a Montreal synagogue was vandalized almost a year ago in what has been described as "one of the worst such incidents in years" by B'nai Brith Canada.

Montreal police told CTV News Patrice Belley-Gervais appeared in court Wednesday in connection with the May 27, 2020 incident at the Congregation Sepharde Kol Yehudaa, a small, home-based synagogue in Cote-St-Luc, an on-island Montreal suburb with a large Jewish population. He faces a charge of breaking and entering, and is next set to appear in court April 30.

After a lengthy closure due to COVID-19 last spring, congregants said they returned to find the place of worship had been ransacked, with religious items strewn on the floor, walls covered in anti-Semitic slurs, and Torah scrolls stuffed in a toilet.

One member described it as "carnage" at the time. There was no sign of forced entry, but a window had been found unlatched.

"We are thankful and relieved that a suspect has been arrested in connection with this deplorable incident," said Michael Mostyn, Chief Executive Officer of B’nai Brith Canada, in a news release on Thursday. "The wanton desecration of places of worship must carry consequences, regardless of motivation."

The arrest comes after another Montreal man, 28-year-old Adam Riga, allegedly defaced a Westmount synagogue in January. Police charged Riga with trying to commit arson and for uttering threats after Shaar Hashomayim was defaced with anti-Semitic graffiti.